Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 1 point in screen trade.

IG Markets strategist Ben Potter said expectations for the December payrolls data were high, and a result of about 175,000 private sector jobs created could have been priced in.

"There could easily be scope to disappoint here, causing potential USD weakness; however a strong number will confirm what everyone is seeing and that the U.S. economy is turning around, especially the labor market."

In Malaysia, shares of Malayan Banking rose 1.6% after it announced a MYR4.26 billion bid to buy Singapore-listed Kim Eng Holdings.

Maybank said it will make a general offer for Kim Eng at S$3.10/share after acquiring a 44.63% stake from two major investors. The company added that the buy wouldn't affect the current dividend payout ratio.

Analysts said the offer's price-to-book ratio of 1.91 times was reasonable. It was "within the range of investment bank and stockbroking transactions over the past few years," said AmResearch analyst Rachel Huang.

In Singapore, Kim Eng rose 12.6% to S$3.03, but still below the offer price.

In China, index-heavy Ping An Insurance's rebound helped support the market, but weakness in resources stocks weighed following weakness in oil and commodity prices Thursday.

Shandong Gold-Mining was off 1.2% and PetroChina was down 0.5%.

Ping An was 1.7% higher on bargain hunting after late Thursday's denial of speculation that it was planning a fund-raising exercise.

Analysts said longer-term fund-raising concerns may persist, as Ping An would need to boost its capital base after raising its stake in Shenzhen Development Bank to 30% from 5% last year, in a deal worth US$2.7 billion.

In Japan, sixteen of the 33 Topix subindexes were lower. Hideyuki Ishiguro, investment strategy supervisor at Okasan Securities said the euro's weakness against the yen weighed on the market, but "the falls are limited as expectations remain solid for U.S. non-farm payrolls data and for U.S. corporate earnings."

Penta-Ocean Construction fell 10% on heavy volume, after the firm said late Thursday that it would raise up to Y5.1 billion through a public share offering. Dilution concerns as well as profit-taking prompted the selling, after the shares' 52% gain in 2010.

JVC Kenwood Holdings rose 15% as investors exited their short positions after the company announced its much-anticipated equity capital increase plan on Thursday.

Australia's CSR gained 4.2% after detailing plans for a special dividend and capital return as part of a proposal to return A$800 million to shareholders.

In Korea, Samsung Electronics shed 1.3% to KRW918,000 after it said its fourth-quarter operating profit likely fell on year to KRW3.0 trillion, strengthening the view that the economic slowdown in Europe took a toll on demand for consumer electronics during what is traditionally a strong selling season for technology companies.

The world's largest memory chip, television and liquid crystal display maker by revenue said it estimates sales at KRW41 trillion for the three months ended Dec. 31. A year earlier, Samsung posted an operating profit of KRW3.44 trillion on sales of KRW39.25 trillion.

"The number slightly misses the consensus forecast, but the company has more upside momentum in the longer term, such as growing smartphone sales...a turnaround in memory chip and flat panel prices is also expected during the first half of this year," said Shinyoung Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo.

Among other markets, New Zealand's NZX-50 was 0.3% lower, Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.1%, Indonesian shares slipped 1.9% and Philippine shares fell 0.5%. India's Sensex was flat and Thailand's SET was down 0.2%.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro fell to a four-month low against the U.S. dollar at $1.2965 amid continued concerns over European sovereign debt woes and growing optimism over the U.S. economy following a weekly jobless claim report Thursday showing a continued improvement.

But the euro/dollar was unlikely to drop much more in Asian trade before the closely watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December, in part because falls Thursday in U.S. Treasury yields mean investors may be reluctant to actively buy back the dollar, said Junichi Ishikawa, a market analyst at FXOnline Japan.

The euro was at $1.3007, from $1.3009 in late New York trade on Thursday, and at Y108.37 against the yen, from Y108.40. The dollar was at Y83.31, from Y83.36.

Lead Japanese government bond futures were up 0.10 at 139.75 points, helped by Thursday's rise in U.S. Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year cash JGB was flat at 1.210%.

Spot gold was at $1,370.40 per troy ounce, down 70 cents from its New York settlement Thursday. Nymex February crude oil futures were up 49 cents at $88.87 per barrel on Globex.

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